Oliver Dowden: Joe Biden presidency will not change UK Huawei sanctions
The UK’s sanctions on Huawei are unlikely to be lifted if Joe Biden wins the November US election, according to digital secretary Oliver Dowden.
The UK banned Huawei from supplying any more equipment to build the UK’s new 5G network, beginning from next year, after the US leveled sanctions on the Chinese telecoms giant.
All existing Huawei products in the current 5G infrastructure will be removed by 2027.
There had been some speculation that the UK’s position could change if Joe Biden won the November US election and took a softer stance on China.
However, Dowden seemed to wave away any such suggestion today at the House of Commons’ science and technology committee.
“We could continue to keep it under review, but that is a somewhat unlikely scenario given that there is pretty much bipartisan consensus on that,” he said.
“I have no reason to believe that a change in the us presidency would change that position.
“If anything, what we’ve seen over previous months and years is that there has been a tightening, there is no evidence there is going to be any loosening of those sanctions.”
The new US sanctions on Huawei mean that no chips that have been manufactured in the US can be exported to the telecoms company, severely affecting its supply chains.
The UK’s cyber security body, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said this meant that it could not guarantee the safety of the UK’s telecoms network if Huawei was involved.
The US claims that the telecoms company is used by the Chinese state to launch cyber espionage operations, a claim that Huawei and Beijing deny.
Dowden said today that the UK would now be trying to create a task force to “turbocharge” other companies’ 5G capabilities.
Currently, only Nokia and Ericsson have the capabilities to build 5G infrastructure.
The digital secretary said the government would use the taskforce to help other companies, like Samsung and NEC, enhance its 5G capabilities.